WEBVTT CALL UNTILEVERYTHING IS DONE.>> WHY ARE YOU SKEPTICAL OF THECONCLUSION THAT WAS A SUICIDE?>> WHY ARE YOU SO QUICK TOACCEPT THEIR WORD ESPECIALLYWHEN YOU LOOK AT THE HISTORY OFTHIS CASE?AND THE HISTORY OF THE THINGSTHAT WENT ON IN THE COURTROOM.MANY OF YOU WERE THERE.I RECOGNIZE MANY OF YOU, SOME IDON'T BUT MANY OF YOU WERE THEREAND YOU SAW A DAY IN AND DAY OUTOF THINGS THAT WERE NOT BEINGDONE CORRECTLY INCLUDING THISOFFICE.THAT IS NOT SOMETHING WE WILLACCEPT.>> [INDISCERNIBLE]>> WE ARE HERE TO DISCUSS THISSPECIFIC INCIDENT.MAINTAINING POSSESSION OF A PARTOFAARON'S BODY WHEN THEYRELEASED THE BODY TO HIS FAMILY,THEY NEED TO HAVE THE DIGNITY OFA PROPER SERVICE AND THE PROPERPOSSESSION OF HIS REMAINS ANDTHEY HAVE NOT DONE THAT AND

Hernandez's attorney: Family wants to donate brain to CTE study

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Updated: 1:26 PM CDT Apr 20, 2017

A day after his apparent suicide in a maximum security prison, Aaron Hernandez's body was released to a funeral home and his family wants to donate his brain to science.

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Defense attorney Jose Baez said Hernandez's family wants to donate his brain to Boston University's CTE Center to advance the study on the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy on the body.

Baez said Hernandez's body was released by the medical examiner, but the office is "illegally" keeping possession of his brain.

"It is our position that they are holding Aaron Hernandez's brain illegally. They have released the body and withheld Aaron's brain," Baez said.

Baez said his team did not know for certain if Hernandez suffered from CTE or if it contributed to his death.

"We will accept the complete investigation and the determination after the investigation is complete. As it relates on whether it is a suicide or not, we don’t make that call until everything is done," he said.

The Boston Globe reported that the former New England Patriots tight end was on the phone with his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, hours before he was found hanging in his cell early Wednesday, according to one of Hernandez's lawyers. It's not clear what they may have discussed.

Hernandez apparently killed himself by hanging himself from a bedsheet affixed to a window in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley. Guards found Hernandez shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Prison officials say Hernandez jammed the door to prevent officers from entering, didn't leave a suicide note and wasn't on suicide watch because he didn't appear to be at risk.

But prison officials, state police and prosecutors declined to comment further or release any records related to Hernandez's death, citing their ongoing investigation.

he Faggas Funeral Home in Watertown, Massachusetts, confirmed to the AP that it received the body but that funeral services will likely be held elsewhere for the Connecticut native.

Many other questions remain unanswered, including what's to become of Hernandez's estate and why he would kill himself just days after the he was cleared of two murder charges.

Hernandez had been serving a life sentence without parole for the 2013 slaying of a onetime friend.

During his trial in Boston for the killing of two men in Boston in 2012, Hernandez appeared upbeat, constantly backslapping his lawyers, letting out bellowing laughs and blowing kisses to his 4-year-old daughter and other family members in the audience.

The 27-year-old former University of Florida standout died five days after a jury acquitted him in those two deaths, which prosecutors alleged was precipitated by one of the men accidentally spilling a drink on Hernandez at a Boston nightclub.

The apparent suicide left friends, family and his legal team shocked and in disbelief. Many were searching for an explanation to the tragic end of a young man whose football skills at one point earned him a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the NFL's top franchise.

"There were no conversations or correspondence from Aaron to his family or legal team that would have indicated anything like this was possible," Baez said. "Aaron was looking forward to an opportunity for a second chance to prove his innocence. Those who love and care about him are heartbroken and determined to find the truth surrounding his untimely death."

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including football players.